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alloy-digest Wednesday, May 17 2000 Volume 05 : Number 121
Today's Subjects:
-----------------
Re: Alloy: Lyrical Interpretation [lulfstedt@amadeus.net]
Alloy: Colorado Contingent Hosts Alloy Auslander ["Stephen M. Tilson"
Subject: Alloy: Colorado Contingent Hosts Alloy Auslander
Dear Friends,
I am extremely remiss in not mentioning this earlier, but I just seem
to get busier every day - a fact entirely of my own somewhat overly
optimistic doing (or undoing). ;-)
On April 21st and 22nd I had the very good fortune to be hosted by
not one, but by all of the Colorado Contingent as I made my way
across their State in the services of the California Guitar Trio and
Tony Levin as sub-under-assistant road manager and merchandise guy.
(The merchandise person, I learned from Adrian Belew's merch guy who
happened to be at the Boulder Theater show, is aka the SWAG man, or
Stuff We All Get). So I was the SWAG guy and shared road managing
duties with Paul Richards, the CGT band leader.
Although this was a demanding set of responsibilities, the band let
me off the hook after our Friday night show in Breckenridge, CO until
the next night in Boulder so that I might visit with my friends in
the Denver area.
The band and I had recently arrived from points east, and while we
were making our way across the USA in a circle roughly described by
Salt Lake City, Chicago, Baltimore, Atlanta, and westward I was in
contact with Erik (the lurker) Habbinga. I had been intent on
contacting the CC to arrange a meeting upon the band's scheduled
stops in Colorado, but Erik got to me first by noticing my name had
popped up on the CGT website (CGTrio.com) and on Paul Richards' DGM
diary (disciplineglobalmobile.com). He wrote to me while we were
still in rehearsals in the Chicago area and politely inquired if I
might be that same Stephen /\/\iles Tilson of Alloy, etc., and if so
he would like to hook up with me at the Boulder Theater show, which
he was sure to attend in any event being a fan of the Trio.
I sent my "affirmative" and conversation evolved to the point that
Eric obligingly unburdened me from contacting the rest of the CC by
writing them all at my behest (and with much eloquence) to explain
the situation and arrange a get-together if possible.
Things progressed quickly and with outstanding teamwork. Here's how
it all worked out. Keith came to the Breckenridge show as our guest,
brought me back to Denver with him and put me up for the night (his
first official house guest!) in preparation for the planned Colorado
Contingent gathering Saturday afternoon at Beth and Mark Meyer's
place. Keith had a lunch planned with other friends Saturday, so
while he was doing that Dennis (JAMac) Alexander arrived to whisk me
over to Beth and Mark's and give me the quick tour of Denver in the
process. I think that little truck of his could make the Kessel run
in under 4 parsecs... We arrived in good time at The Meyer's to find
Eric already there and Beth and Mark making lunch for everyone. Mark
even went out of his way to produce, as dessert, some outrageously
good chocolate-chip cookies with a *very* short plate-life.
JAMac's fiancee, Teresa (Cory Styles) Addams, was late in arriving,
but Keith showed up in time to help us dispatch the fantastic
selection of beverages provided by JAMac and the Meyers. And
speaking of the Meyers, no mention of them is complete without space
made for the lovely and ever so loved Milena Meyer, their lucky lucky
daughter. Little Milena is so very charming and smashingly
photogenic. Of course, she's had plenty of practice because she gets
lots of camera time under the loving and watchful eye of Daddy! What
a charming child. Beth and Mark - you are doing a wonderful job.
This small person is going to be very special, I'll wager.
Ah, but back to dispatching those bevvies... After the Meyer's lunch
guests had sampled freely from JAMac's cooler, musical instruments
started appearing as if by magic! There were guitars, penny *and*
10Kpenny-whistles, one of those celtic tambourines without the jangly
parts, and all manner of other percussion goodies brought, literally,
to table. We all chose our weapons, Keith and Beth opting to sing,
and proceeded to work up an impromptu ensemble version of The Flat
Earth per my arrangement as heard on The Flattery Earth!
(http://www.egroups.com/group/dolbyday/info.html)
Mark got the whole thing on some kind of digital looking moving
picture machine with a very big and expensive looking lens while
JAMac had set up his 4-track cassette recorder with a microphone up
close to the musicians to capture the audio. Beth captured, printed,
and distributed copies of TFE lyrics from Russell Milliner's site
(http://www.iag.net/~milliner/tmdr/index.html>, and Eric was kind
enough to want to learn how I managed to get that all Dolby out on
guitar. I was deeply complimented by his confession of working on it
in the past and wondering just how I got all those grace notes, and I
responded by showing him the simple secret. Eric mastered the
surprisingly simple arrangement (that took months for *me* to figure
out) like a pro and we were off!
We sang a little here, and then Dennis played a little melody there,
and... wait a minute... Oh My God! Dennis plays that whistle like an
Angel!!! I hope everyone gets to hear him someday. Dennis, you
clearly should have taken first prize and won that trip to Ireland!
Next time, then...
So after a bit of arranging and practice and a couple false starts
out came at least one, maybe two full versions of The Flat Earth -
and it's all on tape, audio and video. From my perspective much of
it was outstanding and I hope the record shows that our few rough
edges (mostly due to my heinous case of bronchitis, I'm afraid) were
softened by the moments of brilliance I clearly heard. Thank you,
everyone, for a most precious and indelibly memorable jam session!
It was priceless. Somebody send me a tape!
Well, where could we go after that tough act to follow? (I mean,
just where *else* are you going to find a roomful of people who know
and can sing and play a Thomas Dolby song so well?!?!) To the Man
himself, of course. Keith had thoughtfully provided copies of Live
Wireless (I was wrong Keith, it's *58* minutes ) and The Golden
Age of Video for us to watch together. It turned out we only had
time for Live Wireless (because I had to beat feet back to CGT-land
in time for our show in Boulder), but it was great fun watching young
Tom in white suit and trademark glasses - and alternately as the
cameraman in tank-top doing push-ups, muscles a-bulge - show us why
he was gonna break hearts and change musical perspectives the world
over. ;-) I paused the tape at one point during SBMWS to exactingly
point this out. At this moment in the film his glasses have slipped
down his nose a bit and he looks up over them at the camera shooting
us his best ultra-smoldering gaze. He was so hot, he was the Mayor
of Hottyville!
Time's up and we say our goodbyes until the show later that night,
and now Eric steps in to taxi me directly to my hotel in Boulder to
drop off my gear and then again right to the Boulder Theater just in
time for me to start setting up. The entire CC were guests of the
band that night and a good time was had by all. I missed seeing much
of Beth, Mark, and Eric at the show. Beth and Mark likely hightailed
it home to relieve the baby sitter, and Eric reportedly had TWO
ladies with him at the show... (take notice, single Alloy ladies -
Eric is quite charming and handsome, and quietly modest all at the
same time) (it *had* to be said) - so they were gone, but Keith,
Dennis, and the charming, lovely, and hilarious Teresa, stayed on
throughout the hour long live webcast interview with the band and
said a late farewell to me - or so we thought...
About 40 minutes later I walked into a Denny's nearby the Boulder Inn
(all the way across town from the Boulder Theater) where the band was
housed for the night, looking for a spot of late-night chow, when
whom should I spy with same thought in mind but Dennis, Teresa, and
Keith! They were mostly done, but made space for me and waited
patiently while Denny's first-class kitchen staff had three or four
tries at making that demanding dish, "three eggs over medium" for
me. (More time in the simulator for this crew, please, Mr. Denny.)
In the meantime more visiting, anecdotes, and giggles were shared by
all and eventually we said goodnight yet again.
Typical of life-on-the-road-with-band I had to be up and out by 9 the
next day for another gruelling drive, this time to back to Salt Lake
City, but my memory of the Colorado Contingent's hospitality, display
of can-do, and feeling of Alloy-as-family kept my mind far from the
rigors of the road. It was an absolutely splendid gathering and
everyone made me feel right at home! Thank you Beth, Mark, and
Milena Meyer, Dennis Alexander and Teresa Addams, Keith, Wednesday,
and Pugsley Stansell, and last but not least, Eric Habbinga who wove
it all together. These are very special and unique people all, and a
real credit to the Alloy community!
I look forward to the next time we meet...
Someone send me a tape!,
/\/\iles
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 21:03:31 +1000
From: Paul Baily
Subject: Alloy: [LONG] From the Manual Days: Dissidents revealed.
Hey all,
Well, Lissu asked, and how can one resist such dulcet tones?
Hunting down these messages was rewarding and warming as I really enjoyed
flicking through some of the other early Alloy messages - yes, I kept every
one. To those of you who were there I thank you, to those of you who joined
since, I thank you also: it's been great getting to know you.
Anyway enough run on sentences and gushing from me, you can watch people do
that at the Academy Awards, here's the thread. My apologies in advance for
quoting the contributors without permission, hope you're okay with it.
Since I used pretty funky punctuation back then when forwarding the messages
I'll put comments I'm adding now in multiple square brackets [[[ like this -
PB ]]] - the ones you see with single []'s are part of the original message.
I'll separate each message with '-----'.
Okay, let's get started. The first message is from me. Alloy is about two
months old at this stage.
-----
Subject: Alloy: Dissidents dialogue?
Sent: 30/3/96 6:56 pm
Received: 30/3/96 7:09 pm
From: Me, paulb@powerup.com.au
To:
Hi there,
One thing I've been curious about for a long while now, in Dissidents,
anyone have any idea what's said in the bridges of the song? It's not in my
CD's lyrics but I think it sounds like Russian or maybe English with a heavy
Russian accent, can't quite make it out. Ideas?
thanks for your time, stay well,
Paul.
In case you're curious, Alloy just
received it's 100th subscriber two days back (sorry Keith, I don't have any
free steak knives to send you :-) - thanks for your support people, and
thanks also to those of you who have sent me personal feedback on the list,
it means a lot!
_____________________________________________________________________
Paul Baily paulb@powerup.com.au
Consulting Systems Engineer/IT gun for hire
Brisbane, Australia Where we're going, we don't NEED roads.
[[[ Gack! Can't believe I ever actually used that as a sig. - PB ]]]
-----
Subject: Alloy: Re: Dissidents dialogue?
Sent: 31/3/96 5:04 pm
Received: 31/3/96 5:25 pm
From: Keith Stansell
To:
Paul Baily wrote:
>
> Hi there,
>
> One thing I've been curious about for a long while now, in Dissidents,
> anyone have any idea what's said in the bridges of the song? It's not in
> my CD's lyrics but I think it sounds like Russian or maybe English with a
> heavy Russian accent, can't quite make it out. Ideas?
>
> thanks for your time, stay well,
>
> Paul.
Hey Paul,
Here's the lyrics in the bridges of Dissidents, transcribed from subtitles
that appear in the video(on the laser disc "The Golden Age of Video").
"I remember the night they came for my father and mother. It was in the
days when grain was plentiful... ...we had eaten a simple meal of barley
gruel on the porch. The car drove away into the night. I never saw them
again. Ever again."
No steak knives huh. How about a key chain or something :^)
Keith Stansell (no 100)
Salt Lake City, Utah
[submitted by ]
-----
Subject: Alloy: Re,Re,R,R,R,Re: Dissidents dialogue?
Sent: 1/4/96 11:14 pm
Received: 2/4/96 6:59 am
From: John
To:
That's all good and fine, but what language is it then?
By the way... all involved... thanks for giving me a great excuse to play
that song again. Not that I needed one.... Man this a great album.
John
BugRoom@aol.com
[John's subject line, not mine :-) - PB]
-----
Subject: Alloy: Re: Dissidents dialogue?
Sent: 2/4/96 7:07 am
Received: 2/4/96 7:13 am
From: Melissa Jordan
To:
If the dialogue in "Dissidents" is Russian, it's some awfully funky Russian
I don't understand. The syllables sound seriously Slavic, but I've never
been able to make any sense of it (which makes me slightly nuts every time I
hear it.) I often try to heal my wounded linguist's pride by convincing
myself that it's Russian recorded backwards... (and if played forward, says
"V. I. Lenin is dead. Five year plan. Five year plan...")
Cheers,
Melissa "Goddess of Soviet Kitsch" Jordan
Melissa R. Jordan
Special Projects Manager
International Programs Office
Goodwill Industries International, Inc.
[submitted by Melissa Jordan, ]
-----
[[[ ...and now the authoritative answer we were hoping for. -PB ]]]
Subject: Alloy: Re: Dissidents dialogue?
Sent: 2/4/96 7:12 am
Received: 2/4/96 6:11 pm
From: Thomas Dolby Robertson
To:
>>>> Hi there,
>
> One thing I've been curious about for a long while now, in Dissidents,
> anyone have any idea what's said in the bridges of the song? It's not in
> my CD's lyrics but I think it sounds like Russian or maybe English with a
> heavy Russian accent, can't quite make it out. Ideas?
>
> thanks for your time, stay well,
>
> Paul.
Hey Paul,
Here's the lyrics in the bridges of Dissidents, transcribed from subtitles
that appear in the video(on the laser disc "The Golden Age of Video").
"I remember the night they came for my father and mother. It was in the
days when grain was plentiful... ...we had eaten a simple meal of barley
gruel on the porch. The car drove away into the night. I never saw them
again. Ever again."<<<<
Paul,
Actually, the lyrics I used for subtitles in the dissidents video I made up
completely!! I recorded the sample off a short-wave radio braoadcast in
about 1982 and never knew what they meant. But a Russian sent me the real
translation a while ago, and its relevance completely blew my mind... it is
aparently an old alegorical poem about a tree, and it went something like
this: "the bough that is young and supple bends in the wind, but the bough
that is old and rigid snaps." I will dig up the exact translation and put it
on the FES site soon in my 'reminiscences' section which I'm busy
cross-referencing!
Best,
TMDR
[submitted by Thomas Dolby, ]
-----
Subject: Alloy: Re: Dissidents dialogue
Sent: 3/4/96 12:42 am
Received: 3/4/96 6:54 am
From: Melissa Jordan
To:
>Thomas Dolby wrote:
>Actually, the lyrics I used for subtitles in the dissidents video I made up
>completely!! I recorded the sample off a short-wave radio braoadcast in
>about 1982 and never knew what they meant. But a Russian sent me the
>real translation a while ago, and its relevance completely blew my
>mind... it is aparently an old alegorical poem about a tree...
Oh, god. It really is Russian. I played "Dissidents" for friends in
Moscow, and they were never able to decipher it. (Perhaps I should have
asked them to listen to it BEFORE opening the economy-size bottle of Ararat
Five-Star Armenian cognac...)
I have a copy of The Flat Earth in my car - guess what I'll be listening to
on the way home tonight?
Hanging her head in linguistic shame,
Melissa "I really speak Russian - honest, I do!" Jordan
Melissa R. Jordan
Special Projects Manager
International Programs Office
Goodwill Industries International, Inc.
[submitted by ]
-----
So there you have it.
stay well,
Paul.
This message powered by Sometimes/Erasure.
[Sometimes] the truth is harder than the pain inside.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 14:00:49 +0100
From: lulfstedt@amadeus.net
Subject: Re: Alloy: Hair and art, Was:Thomas shaved *his* head...
Krzysko, William wrote:
>So, I guess my question is, why do people here try to establish a "look" for
>their physical appearance? Does it come from other people, or from inside,
>or from somewhere else?
>Sorry if what I'm asking isn't too clear, I'm not really sure of what I'm
>asking, but I would appreciate any comments anyone has.
Hmmm,...I'm personally not a starving artist, (although I've been a starving
student a few times just before the grant came in :-) However, dressing
'differently' is probably a matter of being relaxed for me. I'm not trying to
conciously establish a 'look',..I'm just dressing comfortably. What we all
define as normal dress is a very subjective thing anyway.
Because of the kind of work I do, I have to dress smartly in the office (suits
and whatnot), not always the most comfortable choice of clothing in this
climate, (my work is IT related, but the way people dress here isn't geeky, it's
surprisingly formal.)
So when I get off work, or when I'm doing music, I want to feel comfortable, and
that's not just physically comfortable, but mentally comfortable (in clothes
that I feel at home in, hence, you don't see me in twin set & pearls!!) Some
workmates get surprised at what I wear out of hours, but I think that's just
because it's very different to what I wear at work.
It might also have something to do with the fact that I had to wear a strict
school uniform (starched shirt collars and ties!) for seven years of high school
too,...being in a uniform like that makes you want to assert your identity in
the short periods that you don't wear it, because you spend most of your days in
a situation where you need to comply and fit in with the crowd. Part of this is
wearing your 'own' clothes, and making a clear definition beween work & play
clothes.
And lastly, I like to wear clothes that make me feel good wearing them. I
virtually live in black jazz dance trousers because they're so damned
comfortable. That's nothing to do with what other people's opinions, or pleasing
anyone but myself when I'm out of the office. I wear them on stage, in town, and
in the office when I can get away with it.
Hmmmm,...not sure if that was what you were looking for William, but there you
go,...
:-)
Lissu
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 13:22:29 -0600
From: "Keith Stansell"
Subject: Re: Alloy: [LONG] From the Manual Days: Dissidents revealed.
- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Baily"
> Hunting down these messages was rewarding and warming as I really enjoyed
> flicking through some of the other early Alloy messages - yes, I kept
every
> one. To those of you who were there I thank you, to those of you who
joined
> since, I thank you also: it's been great getting to know you.
I think I still have a printout of the reply from TMDR to my message around
somewhere. I was so excited that TMDR had responded to something that I had
written.
Wow, that was four years, three jobs, two cities , three operating systems,
and three ISP's ago.
And I am still waiting for those steak knives or a keychain.
Keith Stansell (Alloy member #100)
Denver
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 15:34:25 EDT
From: DAbbitt32@aol.com
Subject: Re: Alloy: [LONG] From the Manual Days: Dissidents revealed.
In a message dated 05/16/2000 12:26:15 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
Keith@Stansell.com writes:
<< And I am still waiting for those steak knives or a keychain. >>
Keith -
It never occured to me until now, but a few years back I received, totally
unsolicited and COD, one set of "Alloy" steak knives and a "Flat Earth Tour"
keychain. As I was a bit short on cash at the time I sent them back and
thought nothing more of it.
My bad.
- -Dabbitt
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 13:56:50 -0600
From: "Keith Stansell"
Subject: Re: Alloy: [LONG] From the Manual Days: Dissidents revealed.
Dangit Dabbit. I've been walking around with loose keys in my pocket and
cutting my meat with a butter knife all this time because of you!
- -Keith
- ----- Original Message -----
From:
To:
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2000 1:34 PM
Subject: Re: Alloy: [LONG] From the Manual Days: Dissidents revealed.
>
> In a message dated 05/16/2000 12:26:15 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
> Keith@Stansell.com writes:
>
> << And I am still waiting for those steak knives or a keychain. >>
>
> Keith -
>
> It never occured to me until now, but a few years back I received, totally
> unsolicited and COD, one set of "Alloy" steak knives and a "Flat Earth
Tour"
> keychain. As I was a bit short on cash at the time I sent them back and
> thought nothing more of it.
>
> My bad.
>
> -Dabbitt
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 13:00:39 +0100
From: tim dunn
Subject: RE: Alloy: Colorado Contingent Hosts Alloy Auslander
Stephen - that is all so cool - I think we should all move to Colorado
and set up our own commune or something. One day the London contingent
will have to join you...
Also, how did you get that job???? That sounds totally cool - can you
get me some bass tips off Tony L??
Cheers
the_copse
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 21:26:47 EDT
From: DAbbitt32@aol.com
Subject: Re: Alloy: [LONG] From the Manual Days: Dissidents revealed.
In a message dated 05/16/2000 1:00:07 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
Keith@Stansell.com writes:
<< Dangit Dabbit. I've been walking around with loose keys in my pocket and
cutting my meat with a butter knife all this time because of you! >>
Hey, you think you're bad off? At the time I couldn't even afford POCKETS,
or BUTTER KNIVES, so I would eat my dinner while juggling a handful of loose
keys and use a rusty spoon to cut my meat.
SO GET OFF MY BACK!
Ahem ... I'm sorry... I'm ... I didn't mean to lose my temper like that.
It's just, well, I went to find my "Live Wireless Tour" souvenir television
remote control last night, and I seem to have lost it. Anyone know where I
could order another?
- -Dabbitt
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 01:01:48 EDT
From: RThurF@aol.com
Subject: Re: Alloy: The Lathe of Heaven (was Hot n' Juicy Video News) (OT)
In a message dated 5/13/00 12:48:44 AM Eastern Daylight Time, CJMark@aol.com
writes:
:: Robin.. et al..
A friend sent me this synopsis of the book "Lathe of Heaven" You might want
to read it.. or maybe not.. if you want to maintain the suspense.
http://www.galaxyezine.org/stories/reviews/snop003.html ::
Thank you Mark!! :)
Robin T
who promises she'll get caught up on all her email with everyone - and start
more Gallery updates - this week!!!
------------------------------
End of alloy-digest V5 #121
***************************